Exodus 2-4

New American Standard Bible

The Birth of Moses

2 Now a man from ^(A)the house of Levi went and ^[a]married a daughter of Levi. ² And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw ^[b]that he was ^[c](B)beautiful, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a ^(C)papyrus ^[d]basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the ^(D)reeds by the bank of the Nile. ^4 (E)And his sister stood at a distance to ^[e]find out what would ^[f]happen to him.

⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down ^(F)to bathe at the Nile, with her female attendants walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the ^[g]basket among the reeds and sent her slave woman, and she brought it to her. ⁶ When she opened it, she ^[h]saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?” ⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and ^(G)he became her son. And she named him ^[i]Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹ Now it came about in those days, ^(H)when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his ^[j]fellow Hebrews and looked at their ^[k](I)hard labors; and ^(J)he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his ^[l]fellow Hebrews. ¹² So he ^[m]looked this way and that, and when he saw that there was no one around, he ^(K)struck and killed the Egyptian, and hid ^[n]his body in the sand. ¹³ Now he went out ^(L)the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were ^[o]fighting with each other; and he said to the ^[p]offender, “Why are you striking your companion?” ¹⁴ But he said, “^(M)Who made you a ^[q]ruler and a judge over us? Do you ^[r]intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known!”

Moses Escapes to Midian

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But ^(N)Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and ^[s]settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down ^(O)by a well.

¹⁶ Now ^(P)the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and ^(Q)they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but ^(R)Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. ¹⁸ When they came to their father ^(S)Reuel, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?” ¹⁹ They said, “An Egyptian saved us from ^[t]the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” ²⁰ So he said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him ^[u]to have something to eat.” ²¹ And ^(T)Moses was willing to live with the man. And he gave his daughter ^(U)Zipporah to Moses. ²² Then she gave birth to ^(V)a son, and he named him ^[v]Gershom, for he said, “I have been ^(W)a stranger in a foreign land.”

²³ Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel ^(X)groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and ^(Y)their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to God. ²⁴ So ^(Z)God heard their groaning; and God remembered ^(AA)His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ And ^(AB)God saw the sons of Israel, and God ^[w]took notice of them.

The Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of his father-in-law ^(AC)Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the ^[x]west side of the wilderness and came to ^(AD)Horeb, the ^(AE)mountain of God. ² Then ^(AF)the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of ^[y]a ^(AG)bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed. ³ So Moses said, “^(AH)I must turn aside and see this ^[z]marvelous sight, why the bush is not burning up!” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, ^(AI)God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then He said, “Do not come near here; ^(AJ)remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ And He said, “^(AK)I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” ^(AL)Then Moses hid his face, for he was ^(AM)afraid to look at God.

⁷ And the Lord said, “I have certainly ^(AN)seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ So I have come down ^(AO)to rescue them from the ^[aa]power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a ^(AP)good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(AQ)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(AR)the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

The Mission of Moses

¹⁰ And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, ^(AS)so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “^(AT)Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² And He said, “Assuredly ^(AU)I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: ^(AV)when you have brought the people out of Egypt, ^(AW)you shall ^[ab]worship God at this mountain.”

¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “^[ac](AX)I AM WHO ^[ad]I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘^[ae]I AM has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God furthermore said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘^(AY)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is the ^[af](AZ)name for ^[ag]all generations to use to call upon Me. ¹⁶ Go and ^(BA)gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘^(BB)The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to me, saying, “^[ah](BC)I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ So ^(BD)I said, I will bring you up out of the oppression of Egypt to the land of ^(BE)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land ^(BF)flowing with milk and honey.”’ ¹⁸ Then ^(BG)they will ^[ai]pay attention to what you say; and ^(BH)you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please let us go a ^(BI)three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt ^(BJ)will not permit you to go, ^(BK)except ^[aj]under compulsion. ²⁰ So I will reach out with ^(BL)My hand and strike Egypt with all My ^(BM)miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and ^(BN)after that he will let you go. ²¹ I will grant this people ^(BO)favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. ²² But every woman ^(BP)shall ask her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will ^(BQ)plunder the Egyptians.”

Moses Given Signs

4 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or ^(BR)listen ^[ak]to what I say? For they may say, ‘^(BS)The Lord has not appeared to you.’” ² The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “^(BT)A staff.” ³ Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and ^(BU)it turned into a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out with your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he reached out with his hand and caught it, and it turned into a staff in his ^[al]hand— ⁵ “so that ^(BV)they may believe that ^(BW)the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand inside the fold of your robe.” So he put his hand inside the fold, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was ^(BX)leprous like snow. ⁷ Then He said, “Put your hand inside the fold of your robe again.” So he put his hand into the fold again, and when he took it out of the fold, behold, ^(BY)it was restored like the rest of his flesh. ⁸ “So if they will not believe you nor ^[am]pay attention to the ^[an]evidence of the first ^[ao]sign, they may believe the ^[ap]evidence of the last ^[aq]sign. ⁹ But if they will not believe even these two ^[ar]signs nor pay attention to what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile ^(BZ)will turn into blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, ^(CA)I have never been ^[as]eloquent, neither ^[at]recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am ^[au]slow of speech and ^[av]slow of tongue.” ¹¹ But the Lord said to him, “Who has made the human mouth? Or ^(CB)who makes anyone unable to speak or deaf, or able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now then go, and ^(CC)I Myself will be with your mouth, and ^(CD)instruct you in what you are to say.” ¹³ But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by ^[aw]whomever You will.”

Aaron to Be Moses’ Mouthpiece

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ^[ax]he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, ^(CE)he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be ^[ay]overjoyed. ¹⁵ So you are to speak to him and ^(CF)put the words in his mouth; and I Myself will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will instruct you in what you are to do. ^16 (CG)He shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ And you shall take in your hand ^(CH)this staff, ^(CI)with which you shall perform the signs.”

¹⁸ Then Moses departed and returned to ^(CJ)his father-in-law ^[az]Jethro, and said to him, “Please, let me go, that I may return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” ¹⁹ Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go ^[ba]back to Egypt, for ^(CK)all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and his ^(CL)sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the ^(CM)staff of God in his hand.

²¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go ^[bb]back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all ^(CN)the wonders which I have put in your ^[bc]power; but ^(CO)I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: “^(CP)Israel is My son, My firstborn. ²³ So I said to you, ‘^(CQ)Let My son go so that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, ^(CR)I am going to kill your son, your firstborn.”’”

²⁴ But it came about at the overnight encampment on the way, that the Lord met ^[bd]Moses, and ^(CS)sought to put him to death. ²⁵ So Zipporah took ^(CT)a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and ^[be]threw it at Moses’ feet; and she said, “You are indeed a groom of blood to me!” ²⁶ So He left him alone. At that time she said, “You are a groom of blood”—^[bf]because of the circumcision.

^27 (CU)Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the ^(CV)mountain of God and kissed him. ^28 (CW)Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and ^(CX)all the signs that He had commanded him to do. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and ^(CY)assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; ³⁰ and ^(CZ)Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the ^(DA)signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So ^(DB)the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord ^[bg](DC)was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, ^(DD)they bowed low and worshiped.